Device for dispensing from a blister pack

ABSTRACT

A pack for medicinal tablets has two parts hinged together, each part having pockets containing tablets. The pockets may be displaced to expel the tablets through a foil sheet.

This invention relates to a pack containing medicinal tablets. Theinvention relates in particular to packs that comprise one or morepockets into which one or more tablets may be packed.

It is known to pack tablets in blister packs made of a plastics materialsuch as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polypropylene (PP). Such packs areshaped to have a plurality of pockets into which an individual tablet iscontained. The pack is sealed by for example a sheet of foil. When aconsumer needs to take a tablet, they simply push the pocket containingthe tablet up towards the sheet of foil, forcing the tablet through thefoil thereby breaking the seal and releasing the tablet. All othertablets remain in respective pockets that remain sealed. In theterminology used in the packaging art, blister packs of this type areknown as primary packaging.

In order to enable a consumer to push a tablet through the sheet offoil, the blister pack is made of a highly flexible material, such asPVC or PP. Due to the material properties, the PVC or PP must be thin inorder to allow sufficient flexibility and to ensure that the pocket maybe sufficiently deformed by a force easily applied by a consumer.Because of the flexibility of the pack, it is necessary to protect thepack from damage whilst at the point of sale and before a consumer haspurchased the pack. It is known therefore to pack the blister pack in anouter pack. In the terminology used in the packaging art, such outerpacks are known as secondary packaging. The secondary packaging is oftenin the form of a cardboard box, for example.

A problem with existing packs of this type is that the packaging isrelatively expensive since both primary and secondary packaging arerequired.

A further problem is that the blister units, and the second packaging ifretained, tend to become rather untidy looking in use. Furthermoresometimes tablets pierce the foil sheet inadvertently, for example whenin a pocket or handbag.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a pack ofmedicinal tablets, the pack comprising a base wall which defines aplurality of locations for the tablets, wherein at each such locationthere is a displaceable pocket which constitutes a recess for a tablet,a cover piece of a rupturable material and a tablet between thedisplaceable pocket and the cover piece, wherein the pack is of asufficiently rigid construction as to be resistant to permanentdeformation.

By “medicinal” herein we mean to include vitamin products, other healthsupplement products and veterinary products. However the tablets arepreferably pharmaceutical products (for human health), most preferablyanalgesics, for example aspirin, paracetamol and ibuprofen.

By “tablets” herein we mean to include all individualised solid-formmedicinal products, including lozenges.

Preferably the pockets are integral with the base wall. Each pocket ispreferably upstanding from the rest of the base wall. For conveniencethe term “pocket” is used herein to denote any displaceable region ableto retain a tablet.

Preferably each pocket is displaceable from its upstanding position onapplication of a force by a user, so as to expel a tablet through thecover piece.

Suitably each pocket is hinged to the base wall.

Preferably the base wall is of a sufficiently rigid construction as tobe resistant to permanent deformation. It may advantageously be elastic,such that it can be reversibly flexed.

Alternatively or additionally the pack comprises a fame around the basewall and the frame is of a sufficiently rigid construction as to beresistant to permanent deformation.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided amedicinal tablet pack comprising:

-   -   a base wall resistant to permanent deformation;    -   a plurality of pockets formed in the base wall;    -   a tablet in each pocket; and    -   a cover piece of a rupturable material over the pockets;        wherein the pocket is displaceable so as to expel a tablet from        the pocket, through the cover piece.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided amedicinal tablet pack comprising:

-   -   a base portion, and    -   a pocket comprising an open end, and an opposite closed end, the        pocket retaining a medicinal tablet, the pocket being attached        to the base portion at an intersection between the base portion        and the pocket wall;        characterised in that the pocket wall comprises a hinge at or in        the vicinity of the intersection between the pocket and the base        portion.

The definitions which follow may apply to any aspect of the presentinvention unless the context demands otherwise.

In one embodiment having pockets integral with the base wall or baseportion naked tablets are located in the pockets, and are retainedtherein by the cover piece.

In another embodiment having pockets integral with the base wall thetablets are provided in a blister pack (e.g. of standard type, typicallyweak and flexible), with the tablets in the blister pack in registerwith the pockets. The blister pack is located with its tablets withinthe pockets and a retention means—of which very many are possible—isprovided to hold the blister pack in place. In effect the blister packserves as a convenient way of locating the tablets in place, in thepockets.

In another embodiment the base wall has openings which correspond to thelocations for the tablets, and the recesses are those of a blister pack(e.g. of standard type; typically weak and flexible) located against thebase wall, with its blisters protruding through the openings, andfunctioning as the displaceable pockets. A retention means—of which verymany are possible—is provided to hold the blister pack against the basewall. In effect the base wall supports the blister pack, preventing itfrom distorting. The blister pack may be permanently secured inplace—the pack being disposable—or may be intended to be replaced by anew blister pack, once it is empty.

Preferably, the pack comprises more than one pocket. Preferably itcomprises 4 to 16 pockets, preferably 6 to 12.

Conveniently, the or each pocket is adapted to hold one tablet only.Alternatively the pocket may hold more than one tablet. This may beuseful if the usual dose taken at one time is more than one tablet. Forexample, if the usual dose of a particular tablet is three at one time,then a pocket may hold three tablets.

The pack according to the invention obviates the need for a secondarypackaging such is in the form of a carton. The pack therefore may alsoserve as a brand carrier.

The pack may also serve as an information carrier and as such is able toimpart important medicinal information to the consumer. The informationmay relate to dosage, contra-indications and safety for example.

The information may be applied directly to the pack by, for example,screen printing, or labeling, or may be applied to a leaflet affixed toor carried by the pack.

Preferably, the pack further comprises a cover piece, serving as asealing portion, preferably in the form of a sheet extending over theopen end of the pocket to close the open end.

The cover piece may suitably be a readily frangible material; suitably areadily frangible material which has little resistance to tearing, onceit has been pierced. Preferably it is of thin metallic foil material.

A pocket may be closed over by an individual cover piece but preferablyall the pockets of the pack are closed over by a single cover piece,such that its breach by a tablet at one pocket does not compromise itsclosure over other pockets, still containing tablets.

Preferably the base wall, and the pocket when integral therewith, isformed from a polymer, preferably a thermoplastic, for examplepolypropylene (PP).

The tablet may be released from the pack by applying a force to theprotruding end of the pocket. This causes the pocket to deform, pushingthe protruding end towards the cover piece. This in turn causes thetablet to be pushed through the cover piece, and hence to be releasedfrom the pack.

The pack as a whole, and the pocket in particular, must be sufficientlyrigid to protect the tablet whilst the pack is in transit between themanufacturer and the wholesaler, and also between the wholesaler and theretailer. In addition it must be strong enough to prevent accidentalexpulsion of the tablet, for example while being carried around by aconsumer.

On the other hand the pocket must be sufficiently deformable to enable aconsumer to easily push the pocket to displace it, to force the tabletwithin the pocket through the cover piece, allowing release of thetablet.

The hinge (when present) forms a “weak” bridge between the base wall andthe pocket. This reduces the level of force that is required to displacethe pocket.

A hinge may be formed from a web of wall material which is thinner incross-section than the parts it connects together, namely the materialof the base wall and the material of the pocket. Preferably the webextends substantially around the circumference of the pocket.Alternatively, the hinge may be formed by a web which runs onlypartially around the circumference of the pocket. Alternatively thehinge may be formed from a plurality of thinner webs which arepositioned at spaced apart intervals around the circumference of thepocket.

A hinge may be formed from a region of the wall having a variablethickness over a predetermined portion of the wall.

Preferably a hinge is integrally formed with the wall. Alternatively itis separately Formed.

Advantageously, the or each pocket is substantially dome shaped. When aconsumer wants to take a tablet, the consumer applies pressure to thepocket displacing it towards the sealing portion. This movement causesthe tablet to be forced through the sealing portion, releasing thetablet.

When a pocket is domed shaped and a hinge is provided, when a force isapplied to the dome the hinge allows relative movement of the pocket andthe base wall, and the result of applying a force to the dome is thatthe dome inverts under the force applied, thus causing the dome to movetowards the cover piece. As the pressure is applied, the deformation ofthe dome will reach a point where the dome inverts or “flips” so that itbecomes convex rather than concave.

Preferably, the pack is designed such that inversion of the pocketcauses it to “over centre” about the hinge. The pocket will thereforeremain in the inverted position after the tablet has been forced out ofthe pocket. This can be particularly useful in providing a consumer witha visual indication that the tablet within a particular pocket hasalready been released.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention there is provided amethod of manufacturing a pack of one of the preceding aspects.

Advantageously, the pack is formed from injection moulding. This allowsaccurate shaping of the pack to be achieved. In addition it allows thethickness of the wall to be varied as required.

It had previously been thought that it would not be possible to useinjection moulded PP to make a pack for containing tablets.

Advantageously, the pack is moulded so that the pockets are formed intheir inverted position. The pockets are then forced into theirnon-inverted or as-sold state after moulding. This means that the hingesare pre-stressed and thus a plastics “living” hinge is formed. This ineffect means that the PP molecules have arranged themselves linearlyduring the stressing process and this further reduces the force which isrequired to invert the pocket and force the tablet from the pocket.

The pockets may be forced into their non-inverted state by means ofmechanical or hydraulic force for example, by a pressurised air jet.

Preferably the pocket is stable in each of the positions describedherein. It will not change from the stating or non-inverted position tothe inverted position without application of a sufficient force todisplace the pocket; and vice-versa. Thus the pockets may be regarded asbistable.

As noted above each pocket may comprise further wall portions that arethinner in cross-section. These portions further reduce the forcerequired to invert the pocket, whilst still allowing the pocket to beformed generally from a thicker layer of plastics material which willprovide sufficient protection for the tablet.

Conveniently, the further areas of reduced wall thickness comprise oneor more concentric rings extending circumferentially around the pocket,and being spaced apart axially from another.

The pack may be joined to another pack, to form a pack assembly. Inparticular a pack assembly may comprise two packs of any aspect of thepresent invention, but preferably identical, joined together, preferablyby a hinge, so as to have a stowed configuration in which tablets cannotbe expelled and an opened configuration in which tablets can beexpelled. Preferably the cover pieces of the packs are in face-to-facerelation when the pack assembly is in its stowed configuration.

The invention is particularly useful for forming a pack that serves asboth the primary and the secondary packaging, thus obviating the needfor a secondary packaging. The pack then acts as a brand and/orinformation carrier. However, the pack according to the invention mayalso be used as a primary packaging which can be placed inside asecondary packaging.

The invention will now be further described by way of example withreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a part-assembled pack accordingto a first embodiment of the present invention in which a pack of theinvention retains a standard blister pack;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the assembled pack of FIG. 1before any tablets have been removed from the pack;

FIG. 3 is a detailed representation of a pocket of the pack of FIGS. 1and 2 with the tablet sealed within the pocket;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a pocket of FIG. 1 showing thetablet being pushed out of the pocket;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are schematic representations of a pack according to asecond embodiment of the present invention in which the pack containsnaked tablets, not a blister pack;

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of the pack of FIGS. 5 and 6showing a user applying a force to the pack in order to push a tabletout of a pocket;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a third embodiment of pack of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 is a side elevation of the pack of FIG. 8, partially open; and

FIG. 10 is a is a perspective view of the pack shown in FIGS. 8 and 9,shown partially open.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, a pack according to the presentinvention is designated generally by the reference numeral 10. The packcomprises a base wall 11 and a plurality of pockets 12. The pockets arelocated so that a standard blister pack 20 may be laid with its tabletprotrusions or blisters within the pockets. The foil closure sheet ofthe blister pack is shown as 13. The base wall 11 and pockets 12 areintegrally formed from a polymer such as polypropylene (PP). The packmay be formed by any appropriate means but preferably is formed byinjection moulding.

Bach pocket 12 comprises a pocket wall 14 of a predetermined thickness.The pocket intersects with the base wall 11 at a hinging wall 15. Thehinging point may be formed from an area of the pocket wall which isthinner in cross-section than the remainder of the pocket wall, andallows the pocket 12 to move relative to the base wall 11.

Each pocket 12 is substantially dome-shaped, and when a consumer wantsto access a tablet 16 contained within the pocket 12, the consumermerely has to apply force to the pocket 12 causing the pocket to hingeabout the hinging point 15 thus causing the dome to invert as shown inFIG. 4. This causes the tablet to be pushed through the foil 13.

The pocket comprises a concentric ring 19 in which the pocket wall is ofreduced thickness. The ring 19 reduces the force required to deform thedome.

The blister pack may be held firmly in place in the pack by means ofsecurement tabs (not shown) under which the periphery of the blisterpack may be secured at intervals, the blister pack being flexed intoplace.

As the pocket 12 is urged in the tablet-expelling direction by the forceapplied by a user, the pocket 12 flexes and “over centres” at thehinging point 15. Thus the dome inverts and it remains inverted. Thisallows the customer a visual means of identifying how many tablets areleft in the pack since it is clear that any pockets which are invertedno longer contain a tablet.

With reference to FIGS. 5 to 7, a second embodiment of the invention isshown. Parts of the pack which correspond to parts shown in FIGS. 3 and4 have been allocated the same reference numerals for the sake ofclarity.

Referring to the figures, it can be seen that the pack 40 no longercontains a blister pack 20. Rather it contains naked tablets.

The hinging point 15 may be formed from an area of the wall having athinner cross-section or alternatively may be formed by an area of thewall having a variable cross-section. The base wall 11 is thinner thatthat of the first embodiment, but still thicker than the thickness ofthe pocket 14 and hinge 15. The pocket does not have the concentric ring19, but nevertheless also “over centres”. The foil 13 is configured asindividual foil portions secured over respective pockets, but could be asingle sheet adhered over all of the pockets of the pack.

Turning to FIG. 7, showing the pack of the second embodiment, it can beseen that the operation of releasing a tablet 16 from a pocket 14 may beachieved with one hand of the consumer while the other hand holds thepack in place.

The most obvious difference between the pack of the third embodimentshown in FIGS. 8 to 10 and those of the first and second embodiments isthat, in fact, it is a pack assembly, having two “packs” 60, 62 whichare connected together by a hinge 64. Each pack 60, 62 is of the typeshown in FIGS. 1-4, in that it comprises a preformed blister pack laidinto an array of 6 recesses, the pockets of which are clearly denoted bythe integer 66, in any of FIGS. 8 to 10. The foil sheet of one of theblister packs can be seen as 68 in FIG. 10.

It will be apparent that the pockets 66 face outwardly when the packassembly is closed, and thus that the foils 68 are in face-to-facerelation when the pack assembly is closed.

It will be observed in FIG. 9 that on one of the packs the middle row ofpockets cannot be seen in side view. This is because they have beendisplaced inwardly in order to expel their contents, the medicinaltablets. It will also be observed that in FIG. 10 the foil sheet isshown as being breached in the corresponding locations 70, 72.

The two packs are brought together after use, in order to be put in apocket, handbag or medicine cupboard, for example, and in the closedposition a latching arrangement (not shown) operates to prevent readyseparation of the two packs. The latter mechanism may be a simplemechanical interaction between the two parts, whereby an opening forceapplied by an adult can open the pack assembly. A small lip formationmay be seen on each pack at 74, 76, to assist opening.

The packs described are preferably for carrying and dispensing analgesictablets, for example NSAID analgesic tablets, notably ibuprofen.

1-16. (canceled)
 17. A pack assembly comprising two packs of medicinaltablets joined together, each pack being provided with an external coverpiece, the two packs being joined such that the assembly has a stowedconfiguration in which the medicinal tablets cannot be expelled and anopened configuration in which the medicinal tablets can be expelled, theexternal cover pieces being in a face-to-face relation when the assemblyis in its stowed configuration; each said pack comprising: a base wallwhich defines a plurality of locations for the tablets, wherein at eachsaid location there is a displaceable pocket which is substantiallydome-shaped and integral with the base wall and which constitutes arecess for a tablet, an internal cover piece of a rupturable material,and a tablet between the displaceable pocket and the internal coverpiece, wherein the base wall is of a sufficiently rigid construction asto be resistant to permanent deformation and is elastic such that it canbe reversibly flexed; wherein a junction between the pocket and the basewall acts as a hinge such that the pockets are bistable and have aconcave position in which the pocket accommodates a tablet and a convexposition in which the tablet is forced from the pocket; and wherein eachpack is formed by injection moulding.
 18. A pack assembly according toclaim 17 wherein the pockets contain naked tablets.
 19. A pack assemblyaccording to claim 17 wherein the tablets are provided in a blister packlocated in the pockets.
 20. A pack assembly according to claim 17wherein the base wall has openings which correspond to the locations forthe tablets and the recesses are those of a blister pack located againstthe base wall, with its blisters protruding through the openings, andfunctioning as the displaceable pockets.
 21. A pack assembly accordingto claim 17 comprising 4 to 16 pockets.
 22. A pack assembly according toclaim 17 wherein the base wall is formed from a polymer.
 23. A packassembly according to claim 17 wherein the hinge is pre-stressed.
 24. Apack assembly according to claim 17 wherein the pockets are stable bothin a starting position in which they accommodate a tablet and in aninverted position in which they have expelled the tablet, through theinternal cover piece.
 25. A method of manufacturing a pack according toclaim 17 wherein the pack is formed by injection moulding with pocketsformed in the base wall and hinges between the base wall and thepockets, wherein the hinges are pre-stressed during the manufacturingprocess and wherein the pockets are adapted to take a non-inverted statein which a recess for a tablet is formed in the pocket and an invertedstate in which the tablet is expelled from a pocket. 26 A methodaccording to claim 25, wherein the pack is moulded so 25, that thepockets are formed in the inverted state and are then forced into thenon-inverted state after moulding.
 27. A method according to claim 26,wherein the pockets are forced into the non-inverted state by means ofmechanical or hydraulic force.